Sister, Sister, Sister
by Haiku Kitten
Summary: Querl isn't sure what he thinks about the Carggite Brande brings to the house. She's hiding something... Reboot. Brainiac 5, R.J. Brande, Triad.


**Sister, Sister, Sister**

**By: **Haiku

**Fandom: **Legion of Super-Heroes Reboot

**Characters: **R.J. Brande, Brainiac 5, Triad

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **

**Summary: **Querl's suspicious of the new girl Brande has brought home. Something about Luornu's story doesn't quite add up.

**Author's Note: **Like I said in Monsters, I wanted to explore the family dynamic a little more. Triad gets protective over Brainy in Legionnaires #65 and it occurred to me that they're sort of adopted siblings. Hence this was born.

Also, big thanks to those who have reviewed Monsters. =) I love to write but it's always more fun if other people are enjoying my work. When I know people want to read more, I work harder to provide. I'm very glad that there are definitely some LOSH fans still around - I'll start posting more of my LOSH works on FF from now on.

**Sister, Sister, Sister**

_Three is a charm_

_Two is not the same_

_I don't see the harm_

_So are you game?_

_Let's make a team_

_Make 'em say my name_

_Lovin' the extreme_

_Now are you game?_

_**-3, Brittany Spears**_

Querl was waiting at the landing strip to meet Brande when he returned from his business trip to Cargg. Normally, he was not nearly so attentive to his guardian. At thirteen years old, he was very mature and independent and had begun staying at the Time Institute more and more now that he'd found his niche and his abilities were in high demand. However, Brande had contacted him an hour earlier and asked that he be present. There was someone with him that he wanted Querl to meet. Admittedly, Querl was curious.

"There you are, my lad!" Brande was cheerful as ever as he stepped off the spaceship, spreading his arms apart to hug the boy. Reluctantly, Querl surrendered to the embrace for a moment before stepping back and straightening his sweater vest. "I'm so glad you could make it. I've brought someone back with me from Cargg – she and I were hoping you could help us out with something."

That was when Querl noticed the brunette girl dressed in far too baggy clothing hesitantly stepping off the ship. She regarded Querl with wide eyes for a moment before hurrying over to Brande. "Mr. Brande, sir, is he the boy you were talking about?"

"Yes, Luornu, this is my ward, Querl Dox," Brande introduced with a smile. He placed a hand on her shoulder and turned his attention back to Querl. "Querl, lad, this is Luornu Durgo of Cargg. She'll be staying with us from now on, so long as we can get everything sorted out properly."

"Miss Durgo." Querl nodded to her in greeting, though his upper lip twitched slightly as he regarded her, eyes narrowed. "Why, exactly, will you be staying with us?"

She seemed caught off guard by his bluntness but Brande immediately spoke up to avoid the conflict that was likely to occur. "Luornu, dear, please excuse Querl, he doesn't believe in beating around the bush and he's a little nervous around new people." Not true, Querl thought, he was never nervous around new people. "Why don't you tell Querl what you told me on the way here?"

"Umm, sure," Luornu agreed, biting slightly at her bottom lip. "See, I don't have any family on Cargg – they're all dead. I, um, I was living by myself but this guy has been kind of stalking me and then last night he tried to attack me but I ran away from him and Mr. Brande found me. I… I'm afraid if I go back to Cargg, he'll find me."

It was easy for Querl to tell when someone was lying and Luornu's lie wasn't even a very good one. He glanced at Brande, wondering if his guardian was really buying Luornu's stalker story, but Brande only looked sympathetic and squeezed Luornu's shoulder comfortingly.

"… I see," he murmured, nodding. "And Mr. Brande, you need my help in making Miss Durgo's residence on Earth legal. With your assistance, I'm sure I can figure that out. Will she be relocating soon?"

"Ah, no, that's something else I need to talk to you about," Brande replied sheepishly. "You see, Luornu is a bit like you. She's special – the kind of special that other people have trouble understanding. So I think it would be best if she stayed with us. In a way, I suppose she'll be your sister."

Querl smiled but it was very forced and very thin. "How pleasant," he remarked with only the slightest hint of sarcasm.

"Ah, Querl, I know you're probably hesitant about it but you'll see; it will be pleasant having a girl in the house," Brande insisted brightly, "a woman's touch and all. I think the two of you will get along quite well."

He seemed terribly excited about the idea, so Querl didn't feel right openly objecting to it. Nonetheless, he promised himself that he would figure out what, exactly, Luornu was hiding. After all, Brande was a very kind person and it wouldn't be the first time someone had taken advantage of that. It also wouldn't be the first time that Querl intervened for his guardian's sake.

--

Luornu settled in quickly, to Querl's surprise, seeming to overcome her insecurities only days after moving in. As a Carggite, he knew that she possessed the ability to separate into three bodies; however, she had not done so since she arrived and Querl was beginning to wonder if there was something wrong with her power.

She was an efficient, organized individual, it seemed, and she had taken to handling all of Brande's files and the like as a sort of secretary to him. Querl had to admit that she was a big help, considering that Brande was notoriously absentminded these days. It was starting to get on Querl's nerves, though, that she was always around when he tried to visit with his guardian. She had to have something up her sleeve, he decided, and he intended to find out what.

"Mr. Brande, I need to talk to you," he said one night at supper, his gaze fixed on Luornu as he spoke. "Alone, if Miss Durgo wouldn't mind giving us a moment."

"Querl, just call me Luornu, how many times to I have to tell you?" The brunette smiled pleasantly and stood from her seat, seemingly at ease with leaving, but Querl could tell by the crinkles at the corners of her mismatched eyes that she was worried. And now, he finally knew why.

"I looked her up," he said when the girl had left them in privacy. Brande arched an eyebrow questioningly. "I've had her files sent to you," Querl continued. "She's an escapee from an asylum."

The news seemed to catch Brande off guard. "By damn," the man murmured, eyes widening. "Well, I suspected that she wasn't telling me the truth. Poor girl, I wonder why she thought she needed to keep that a secret. No doubt she was traumatized by the experience. Thank you, Querl. I'll have a talk with her about it."

"… No problem," Querl replied passively, though he still didn't feel like he'd solved the mystery. There was definitely something about Luornu that wasn't quite right. Perhaps something Brande already knew about that he wasn't telling Querl.

Lately, Querl was starting to wonder if Luornu wasn't so much his adopted sister as she was his replacement.

--

Querl knew he'd forgotten to make his bed that morning when he left for work but when he retired to his room in the evening, he found the bed neat and tidy as it could be. His suspicions of a second party being involved were confirmed when he found a small vase on his computer desk, containing a single yellow flower.

"Luornu!" he called into the hallway, hoping to catch the culprit and give her a firm talk. "Luornu, are you out here?"

From the other end of the hall, a brown haired head poked out of one of the guest bedrooms. In the girl's hand was a duster. "Querl!" she greeted with a small smile, inching out of the room and towards him, surprisingly bashful. She was usually much more open, he thought to himself in confusion.

As she neared him, he noticed something odd about her eyes. Instead of being mismatched, as usual, they were both identical and orange. Querl narrowed his eyes. "Where's the rest of you?" he questioned, smirking when she looked startled.

"O-Oh, I didn't think you'd notice," she began, blushing. "Mr. Brande needed some things filed but I really wanted to clean today too, so my other selves are doing the filing while I clean. It's been a really busy day and we just thought it would be more convenient if we split the work up amongst ourselves."

It had been nearly a week since Querl had told Brande what he knew about the girl and Brande had, of course, kept her around. Lately, she seemed far less reserved. Still, this was the first time he'd seen her use her abilities. "I see," he murmured. "Well, for future reference, I often have experiments in my room that should not be disturbed. I can clean it myself."

She giggled slightly, eyes bright. "Sorry, I didn't think about how I was intruding on your personal space. I guess I wouldn't like anyone messing around in my room either. I'll let you clean from now on. But, umm, Querl? You should really keep it up a little better. I found some moldy socks under your bed. How long have those been there?"

Querl's cheeks flushed dark green. "A-ah, well, I'll certainly try to do that," he replied in embarrassment before ducking back into his bedroom and firmly closing the door.

--

Stargate technology was Brande's shining achievement and the only thing that kept Querl from staying permanently on Talus at the Time Institute. Querl didn't really have an excuse to stay, not when he could easily get back to Earth in less than an hour. And just as he couldn't justify staying on Talus, he also couldn't justify refusing Luornu when she asked to come with him to work one day. After all, she did wake up at five in the morning just to catch him in time to ask. Honestly, Querl wanted to watch her while Brande wasn't around anyway.

"This place is fascinating," the Carggite spoke with wonder as she looked around the lab Querl had brought her too. "You work here? Wow, you're so brainy, you know that?"

Not many people ever complimented Querl and he felt his ego inflate, despite himself. "Well," he said with an arrogant smile, "I actually am. I'm descended from Brainiac, the greatest enemy of Superman. My intelligence has been measured as roughly level twelve."

Luornu looked stunned at the information. "Wow, a villain," she breathed. "But you're such a nice guy."

"Nice?" Querl's brow furrowed. "Well, I don't know about that. Nicer than Brainiac, at any rate. Ah, don't touch that." He snatched a vial from her hands and gingerly replaced it on the rack she'd taken it from. "Many of these chemicals are extremely dangerous."

She nodded and quickly stuck her hands in her pockets. "Do you have any friends here?" she asked him curiously.

"I have a lab partner," Querl replied, shrugging his shoulders. "His name is Rond. We're more associates than we are friends but we get along well enough."

Luornu followed him about for most of the day, listening attentively when he took the time to explain his projects to her. It was definitely interesting, Querl decided, to explain his theories on time travel to someone like Luornu. She was fascinated by the subject but incapable of understanding it on the same level as Querl. He rather liked being able to impress her with everything he knew about the matter.

She talked him into putting aside his experiments long enough to have lunch in the cafeteria, where she dictated what he should eat because she'd realized that he usually skipped lunch. "That's not healthy," she scolded him. "You'll get more work done if you have plenty of energy."

Reluctantly, he sipped at the bowl of soup she ordered for him because she watched him like a hawk as he did so. "You're not my mother," he reminded her calmly after a few moments, placing the bowl on the table. Luornu seemed surprised by the statement for a moment but quickly bounced back.

"What happened to your mom?" she asked, leaning forward. "Is she still alive?"

"What happened to _your _mom?" he countered, annoyed.

"She died," Luornu replied, shrugging her shoulders. "I lived with my grandmother but then she died too. How about you, Querl? What happened to your family?"

Querl scowled and almost refused to answer. It wasn't any of Luornu's business, after all. But then again, no one had ever really asked him about his past before and Luornu seemed genuinely interested. "… My mother abandoned me when I was born," he admitted finally. "I don't know where she is or if she's still alive. I guess it doesn't really matter."

"No relatives?" Luornu asked.

"No. ColuGov had custody of me up until a few years ago." Querl stirred his spoon in his soup bowl absently as he talked. "I blew up too many labs. Someone interfered with one of my experiments while it was in a volatile state and it killed them. I, of course, had to take all of the blame and they decided to get rid of me. It was dumb luck that Mr. Brande found me, I guess."

"He's so wonderful, isn't he?" Luornu said with a smile. "I wish I'd had a dad like him."

Querl swallowed thickly and nodded. "Yes, he's a very good man," he agreed quietly.

--

Even at the Time Institute, there were some who didn't care for Querl. A few young interns had taken to calling him by his Coluan title, Brainiac 5. He didn't care for the title and he especially didn't care for the slander that came with it but he'd never mentioned the bullying to Brande. After all, sticks and stones could break bones but words were meaningless without factual data to back them up. Nonetheless, it was more than a little embarrassing when the bullies decided to strike at Querl and Luornu were leaving the cafeteria.

"Hey, Brainiac 5," one young man sneered as he and three other interns blocked Querl's path, their arms crossed over their chests in a manner that Querl thought was probably supposed to appear intimidating. "What's with the girl? Kidnap her or something?"

Luornu placed a hand on Querl's shoulder, confused. "Querl, who are these guys?" she asked with a frown.

"My peers," Querl replied calmly. "Pay them no mind, Luornu. They like to hear themselves talk." He started to step around them but the one who had spoken reached out and grabbed hold of his wrist. Querl jerked in surprise, trying to pull free of the hold. They'd never gotten physical with him before and it came as a shock. "Mr. Trun, I recommend you let go," he snapped at the boy. "There's no need to start a fight."

Trun didn't seem bothered by the prospect of starting a fight but he did release Querl's wrist, to the Coluan's relief. "We just wanna' know who the girl is, Brainiac 5," the boy insisted, reaching out to shove Querl backwards lightly. "Why don't you just answer the question?"

"It's none of your business," Querl growled stubbornly. "She is my guest and you'd better leave her alone."

"Or what, you'll digitize me or something?" Trun sneered. "Like father, like son, right?"

"Brainiac is my ancestor, not my father." Querl felt Luornu's hand gently tighten on his shoulder. "I suppose you think it's better to have a money grubbing slob for a father, though," he added, deciding that if Trun was going to hit below the belt, there was no reason not to bring up the fact that Trun's father was, in fact, one of the most notoriously corrupt politicians on Talus.

Trun's face scrunched up angrily and Querl had all of a split second to think that perhaps bringing up the boy's father had been a bad idea before Trun's fist connected with his stomach, knocking the air out of him and sending him stumbling into a cafeteria table.

He stared blearily up at the boy as Trun stalked towards him, fist raised to land another blow. "No one talks about my dad," Trun growled and Querl braced himself for another blow, clenching his eyes shut.

"Wrong, Mr. Trun," Luornu's voice suddenly spoke. Querl opened his eyes in surprise to see the Carggite standing between him and Trun. "Nobody picks on my little brother like that. You've got to the count of three to turn around and go about your business."

"Or what?" Trun sneered, fist still raised. "I'm not afraid to hit a girl, especially if you're related to super villain scum."

"Or this," Luornu replied calmly and Querl's eyes widened in shock as she suddenly split into three.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" one of her snarled at the boy, raising her own fists. "Go pick on somebody your own size!"

The third Luornu turned to look at Querl with concerned, orange eyes. "Are you okay, Querl?" she asked him. "Did he hurt you?"

"He's the one that's going to get hurt!" second Luornu snarled, shaking her fist at Trun. "Nobody messes with family and gets away with it."

Querl stared in complete shock, feeling overwhelmed. For the first time, Luornu had triplicated in front of him in _his defense. _"Luornu, you really don't have to do anything," he tried to object. "I'm not hurt at all so let's just let this slide." It was always better to avoid conflict.

Middle Luornu with her mismatched eyes looked at him incredulously. "He hit you, Querl! I can't let him treat you like that!"

"You're wasting your time!" Trun spoke, seeming to overcome his shock at suddenly being with three girls instead of one. "He's just some Coluan orphan that nobody else wanted! That's why he got sent here, my dad said so. Nobody loves him 'cause he's a freak."

That was the last straw for second Luornu and before Trun knew what had hit him, the girl's fist had sent him tumbling backwards into his friends. "You're the freak, asshole!" she spat at him. "Picking on people like that when you don't even know what they've been through is the lowest you can get! If you come near my brother again, I swear I'll mess you up so bad your mom won't recognize you!"

"What's going on here?" A young man with dark hair and glasses approached them, frowning. "Mr. Trun, are you picking on Mr. Dox again?"

"No way-" Trun started to deny but middle Luornu cut him off.

"He wouldn't let us leave the cafeteria and then he punched Querl in the stomach!" she exclaimed angrily.

"Is that true, Querl?" the young man questioned, looking to the Coluan, who was being helped to his feet by third Luornu.

Hesitantly, Querl nodded. "Yes, Rond," he murmured, embarrassed.

Rond arched an eyebrow at Run, frowning. "I think your father would have something to say about this if he found out about how unprofessionally you've behaved today," he remarked. "Why don't you and your friends run along now? Maybe I won't have to report this."

Despite the angry glare Trun sent Querl's way, he allowed his friends to lead him away. Querl stared back at him impassively.

"Sorry about the trouble," he said to Rond as he straightened his clothing. "I'm afraid some of the interns here don't appreciate my presence at the Time Institute."

Luornu merged back into one person, looking horrified. "Querl, why didn't you tell Mr. Brande that people have been bullying you?" she exclaimed. "How long has this been going on?!"

"It's not important," Querl replied, shaking his head. "They're usually harmless. I don't care what people say about me."

"Querl," Rond spoke up. "You're being a bit rude, aren't you? You haven't introduced me to your companion." He held out a hand to Luornu politely. "I'm Rond Vidar, Querl's lab partner. And you are?"

"My apologies, Rond," Querl spoke up. He straightened and placed an arm around Luornu's shoulders. "This is Luornu Durgo… My sister."

Luornu hugged him so tightly, Querl gasped in surprise. "Querl! You called me your sister!" she exclaimed, promptly kissing him on the cheek.

Blushing, Querl hesitantly hugged her back. "… Well, facts are facts."

~END


End file.
